DIY Cardboard Mobile

Mobiles are free-moving, hanging sculptures. An invitation to create a DIY Mobile is great for a wide range of ages with plenty of opportunity for creative while learning about shapes, colors, patterns, and textures.

The materials you can use are limitless. From recycled materials, beads, string, paper, so on the options are open ended to whatever. For this mobile material we used cardboard, string, branches, and black + white tempera paint.

The reason I chose black and white paint is because they are easily overlooked, dismissed as unimportant in exploring art, not as immediately engaging as color. Children’s encounters with these shades are richly nuanced and full of textural depth. Black paint on paper makes a strong declaration. Black and white are potent colors. They call attention to line, to the edges of shapes. Their starkness helps us to see deeply. It allows them to use their imagination and create in an open-ended way. It is emotionally soothing, too. Black and white art provides a frame through which children can understand color even more.